Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra

Entering the Conduct of the Bodhisattvas

Text Section 66

Khenpo Kunpal here applies the second method of analysis that developed at Nālandā to the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra. As the Bodhisattva-caryāvatāra is not the direct words of the Buddha [bka’] but a treatise [bstan bcos, skr. śāstra] on the Buddha’s teachings, Khenpo Kunpal’s commentary on it has to follow the ‘five types of preliminary assessment’ [rtsis ’go yan lag lnga] according to the Nālandā tradition.

When someone composed or taught a treatise at Nālandā on the words of the Buddha, his composition was subjected to five questions: